A career that started from a cigarette box

McCadden’s own story is fascinating and it is long past time to shine the light on a gentle soul who been part of the Irish showbiz scene for close on 50 years.

Born and raised in Dublin, his mother and father were natives of Donegal. “I have no relations in Dublin. All of them are in Donegal or originate from there,” says Joe.

In 1970, Joe completed his Leaving Cert and was looking for a summer job before setting his sights on doing a medical lab technician course in Kevin Street Tech that September.

“One day in town I met Eddie Masterson on the steps of Barry’s Hotel where he lived at the time. Eddie was from Tubbercurry in Co Sligo and was a solicitor in Dublin. He had acquired a huge knowledge of the showband scene during the previous decade and was known to them all. He wrote Tribute to Jim Reeves which gave Larry Cunningham a hit in the UK charts in the mid-60s.

“Eddie sensed my interest in the music scene and he wrote a note on the back of a cigarette box and told me to bring it to Mick Clerkin (also manager of Larry Cunningham at the time) who along with Jimmy Magee of RTÉ had started Release Records a year or so before and had an office in nearby Parnell Street at the time.

“The note read: ‘This is a lad you might be interested in for a summer job.’ I brought it over and handed it to Mick who knew Eddie so well.

“He asked me when could I start and I told him any time. I was in the office of Release Records the following morning and started in the distribution section, packaging records to distributors around the country.

“Dermot Hegarty had a major record at the time with Twenty One Years. Seán Reilly was also there and he was managing Ray Lynam and The Hillbillies while Peter Sheridan from Granard was manager of Dermot Hegarty and The Plainsmen.”

Joe recalls how Mick Clerkin, who was a native of Cavan, was so supportive of him and encouraged him to further his education as well.

“Mick encouraged me to pursue an accountancy course in Rathmines and said he would pay for it. When September came around I went to Rathmines for one month but I knew it was not for me.

“I was soon back with Release Records and moved to Lombard Street in Westland Row a few months later. Mick told me he was starting a cabaret side of the business and they got in acts like Brendan Grace and others and invited me to take an active role in management. My first group were The Barleycorn who had a number one with The Men Behind The Wire.

“The cabaret scene was taking off in style and Dermot Hegarty and Dermot O’Brien were among the first to notice the chance and switched a lot of their dates from the dance halls to the lounges.

“I ended up doing a lot of the bookings for them in those times. We also had the Shaskeen, Mattie Fox and Misty and Gregory Donaghy before he left for Canada.

“Around 1979 I managed Denis Allen and his band for awhile and also did the diaries for Gloria and the Frank Chisum Elvis Show in the 1980s.”

Joe’s life with Release Records was not all about the music. In 1974, Evelyn Lavin from Collooney in Sligo joined the company as a receptionist. Romance soon blossomed in the office and Joe and Evelyn married in 1976.

When Bill Ryan and Buckshot recorded their novelty country hit song, Midnight In The Morning, during the mid-1970s, the voice of the female caller to the late night radio deejay featured on the song was that of Evelyn. “That’s her special claim to fame,” says Joe with a smile.

Joe and Evelyn have two sons, both with high profiles in their chosen careers. Mark McCadden is a soccer writer with The Irish Star for over 16 years and was President of the Soccer Writers Association of Ireland 2016-18. He is married to Tara from Kilbeggan.

David is communications director with Vox Pro, the Cork-based company with around 2,500 employees and offices in Cork, Sacramento, San Francisco and Bucharest.

He previously lived in Boston for four years where he was senior publicist with the Boston Pops Orchestra and has also served as Press Officer for the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. He is married to Katie from New Hampshire, USA.

Back in 1987, Joe embarked on his management of The Fureys.

“I had left Release Records in 1982 so I was on the look-out for a new challenge. It had been a special journey with them all these years. When Finbarr left to pursue his own career in 1997, it presented a big challenge for us at the time. Finbarr has such a high profile in the family circle.

“I devoted myself entirely to establishing Eddie and George and Paul (who died in 2002) and the lads as a major act and keeping them right up in the top league.

“I concentrated a lot on laying down a major foundation on the UK concert circuit. We now play in 130 theatres in the UK and rotate dates between them every second year or so. We are playing a 53-date UK tour this coming spring.

“The lads are currently on tour in Holland and Belgium and we do numerous shows on the continent each year. No Irish folk band plays more dates than The Fureys and they have a very loyal following where ever they go. They have a major Irish tour starting on 27 December with shows in all four provinces.”

Joe McCadden is still in love with the music scene which has shaped and guided his life. He could hardly have envisaged that the little note written by Eddie Masterson on the back of the cigarette box at Barry’s Hotel in Dublin in the summer of 1970 would map his journey over the following decades. He has never regretted that meeting with the man from Tubbercurry and being offered a job by Mick Clerkin.

Check out the dates for The Fureys concert tour here in the Irish Country Living or on www.thefureys.com